# lxmf_messageboard
Simple message board that can be hosted on a NomadNet node, messages can be posted by 'conversing' with a unique peer, all messages are then forwarded to the message board.

## How Do I Use It?
A user can submit messages to the message board by initiating a chat with the message board peer, they are assigned a username (based on the first 5 characters of their address) and their messages are added directly to the message board. The message board can be viewed on a page hosted by a NomadNet node.

An example message board can be found on the reticulum testnet hosted on the SolarExpress Node `<d16df67bff870a8eaa2af6957c5a2d7d>` and the message board peer `<ad713cd3fedf36cc190f0cb89c4be1ff>`

![Screenshot](docs/images/messageboard.png)

## How Does It Work?
The message board page itself is hosted on a NomadNet node, you can place the message_board.mu into the pages directory. You can then run the message_board.py script which provides the peer that the users can send messages to. The two parts are joined together using umsgpack and a flat file system similar to NomadNet and Reticulum and runs in the background.

## How Do I Set It Up?
* Turn on node hosting in NomadNet
* Put the `message_board.mu` file into `pages` directory in the config file for `NomadNet`. Edit the file to customise from the default page.
* Run the `message_board.py` script (`python3 message_board.py` either in a `screen` or as a system service), this script uses `NomadNet` and `RNS` libraries and has no additional libraries that need to be installed. Take a note of the message boards address, it is printed on starting the board, you can then place this address in `message_board.mu` file to make it easier for users to interact the board.

## Credits
* The send and receive functions in message_board.py are based on examples posted on the Reticulum Matrix channel by [Mark](https://github.com/markqvist)